NORFOLK, VA—Old Dominion University head baseball coach Chris Finwood has been named ABCA/Rawlings East Region Coach of the Year, as announced today by the American Baseball Coaches Association. In just his third season, Finwood led the Monarchs to a 36-26 record and an at-large bid to the NCAA regionals, the school’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2000.

ODU defeated NCAA runner-up and then No. 1 Virginia as well as C-USA champion Rice. The Monarchs turned a school record 68 double plays which ranked third nationally and its .976 fielding percentage ranked 20th nationally.

Monarch senior pitcher Dean Ali was named to C-USA’s All-Academic squad, while two Monarchs, Ryan Yarbrough and Connor Overton were selected in this year’s MLB draft. Yarbrough was selected in the fourth round by Seattle.

Finwood joined the 300-career win plateau when the Monarchs defeated Rice 2-1 in 10 innings in Houston on May 8th.